US weapons system identified in Israel-Lebanon attack may violate international law
LONDON: Seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in March, which may have been carried out with a US-supplied weapons system, according to an investigation by The Guardian.
The incident took the lives of seven paramedics, all volunteers, aged 18–25, at an ambulance center in al-Habriyah, southern Lebanon, on 27 March.
Five days before this, seven aid workers working for World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza.
Debris found at the scene in al-Habriyah was identified by The Guardian, an independent expert, and Human Rights Watch as belonging to a 500-pound Israeli MPR bomb and a Boeing-made Joint Direction Attack Munition, a type of explosive device There was a system. They were converted from “dumb bombs” to GPS-guided weapons.
Ramzi Qais, HRW’s Lebanon researcher, told The Guardian: “Israel’s assurances that it is using US weapons legitimately are not credible. “Because Israel’s conduct in Gaza and Lebanon violates international law, the Biden administration should immediately suspend arms sales to Israel.”
Under the terms of the 1997 Leahy Act, the US government is legally unable to assist or arm foreign militaries where “credible information” exists of human rights abuses.
A spokesperson for the US National Security Council told The Guardian: “The US is continuously working to ensure that US-provided defense articles are used in a manner consistent with applicable domestic and international law. If the findings show violations, we take action.
But Josh Paul, a non-resident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now and former State Department employee, said: “The State Department has approved many of these (weapons) transfers with a 48-hour turnaround. There are no policy concerns for Israel on any munitions other than white phosphorus and cluster bombs.
He said JDAMs have been “key items” regularly requested by Israel since the beginning of the Gaza War.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will deliver a report to Congress on Wednesday on Israel’s use of US weapons and whether they may have involved violations of this or other laws.
Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen told The Guardian that al-Habriyah’s findings “are deeply concerning and should be thoroughly investigated by the Biden administration, and their findings should certainly be included in the NSM-20 report.” Which is to be presented to Congress on 8th May.
The airstrike on the ambulance center in al-Habriyah occurred without warning just before 1 am on 27 March. No fighting was reported in the area.
The victims were at the center for the night shift, and were named twin brothers Hussein and Ahmed al-Shaar, aged 18; Abdulrahman Al-Shaar, 19; Mohammed Hamoud, 21; Mohammed al-Farouk Atawi, 23; Abdullah Atwi, 24; and Bara Abu Qais, 24.
The Israeli military claimed that the attack, which demolished the two-storey building, killed a “key terrorist belonging to Jama’a Islamiya”, an armed Lebanese political group with ties to Hezbollah. The person was not identified by name in this.
A spokesman for Jama Islamia acknowledged that some ambulance volunteers were members of the group, but denied that they were part of its armed wing.
Summer Harden, head of the local civil protection centre, who was among the first responders, told The Guardian: “We examined every centimeter looking for body parts and their property. We didn’t see anything military-related. “We knew (the victims) personally, so we could identify their remains.”
Since October 7, Israeli air strikes in Lebanon have killed 16 medical workers, and 380 people, including 72 civilians. Eleven Israeli soldiers and eight civilians are also killed.
Qassem al-Shaar, Ahmed and Hussein’s father, said he had warned his sons not to volunteer.
“I told him it was dangerous to do this kind of work, but he said he accepted the risk. I don’t know what Israel was thinking – these were young people who were excited to help others,” he said.
“My sons wanted to do humanitarian work, and look what happened to them. “If America had not stood behind them, Israel would not have dared to do what it did.”